The fisheries and aquaculture sector of this landlocked, mountainous country in Central Asia was diminished after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Now, fisheries and aquaculture education is being developed through Finnish-Kyrgyz collaboration.
- Text by Sari Eskelinen
- Photo by Roseanna Avento
A course on fish anatomy was piloted within the FishEDU project. Here, fisheries and aquaculture students are practicing how to measure fish length.
Finland has promoted capacity building in the Kyrgyz fisheries and aquaculture sector since 2008, in collaboration with the FAO, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Thanks to its immense water resources, the country has optimal conditions for fish production. Over the course of the past ten years, fish production has increased from less than 200 tonnes per year to more than 2,000.
“In the future, Kyrgyzstan could even become an exporter of fish, if the country succeeds in the development of this sector. There is also great potential for fishing tourism,” Coordinator of Global and Transnational Education Roseanna Avento says.
She coordinates FishEDU, a joint project of the University of Eastern Finland and the Kyrgyz National Agrarian University named after K.I. Skryabin (KNAU) that aims to build capacity in fisheries and aquaculture education in Kyrgyzstan. The collaboration dates back to the early 2000s, when the first Kyrgyz students completed their Master’s degrees in Kuopio, Finland.
“However, having students complete their Master’s degrees abroad is a really expensive way to develop education. This is why KNAU decided to launch its own programme in fisheries and aquaculture. The University of Eastern Finland has contributed to this work by assisting in curriculum development, and this has been well-supported by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland.”
In the future, Kyrgyzstan could even become an exporter of fish.
FishEDU has resulted in even closer collaboration between the universities, and they have taken a systematic and determined approach to the development of necessary educational materials and infrastructure. In Kyrgyzstan, there is huge demand for up-to-date educational materials, and these are being procured and developed for KNAU’s needs. The establishment of an aquaculture centre and an e-library at KNAU is also an important milestone, and they are quickly becoming a valuable resource of materials for fisheries and aquaculture students and professionals alike.
“We are now in the process of setting up a demonstration fish farm for training and small-scale research purposes, and it also serves as an internship opportunity for students.”
In the future, the fish farm will host small populations of rainbow trout and carp, which are the main economic fish species in Kyrgyzstan. “The demonstration farm has a clear development mission, for instance by enabling small trials and experiments. It can also facilitate increasingly close collaboration between the educational institutes and companies in the sector.”
FishEDU is a development cooperation project, and it has also been a learning experience for the Finnish educators. For instance, teaching in digital pedagogy has to adapt to Kyrgyz conditions.
“Digital tools aren’t available to all students or teachers. We also have to consider the costs of commercial applications after the project ends. This is why we have to look into ways of using different kinds of free digital platforms in our teaching, or look for alternative ways of teaching using existing and natural environments.”
A new approach has also been taken to developing learning environments. The equipment needed for a hydrobiology course, for example, was made by teachers from UEF and KNAU participating in the project, and an existing laboratory at KNAU was converted into a water lab.
“That was a valuable educational lesson for us all. We proved that low-cost, innovative learning environments can be built by those involved, and not everything needs to be purchased from outside.”
Development cooperation and its role is a much-discussed topic. Avento also sees that the university has a global mission and a global responsibility to fulfil. “Projects like FishEDU enable us to share our skills and knowledge, and we also benefit from our partners in the same way. We gain experience in intercultural education, new ideas for research and new partners to collaborate with.”
Thanks to these fisheries and aquaculture projects, the University of Eastern Finland has also further expanded its collaboration with FAO and the World Food Programme, WFP, and other organisations.
“Together with the World Food Programme, we’ve also carried out research on the development of the evaluation of school meals in Kyrgyzstan. At the moment, we are also building collaboration with the World Bank.”
FishEDU
Funded under the HEI-ICI programme in 2017-2020, which is administered by the Finnish National Agency for Education and funded by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland.
The partners include UEF, KNAU, FAO, WFP and the Natural Resources Institute Finland, and several corporate partners.